Home Office claims timing of new powers, taking effect days before king’s coronation, is coincidental
Official warning letters have been sent to anti-monarchists planning peaceful protests at King Charles III’s coronation saying that new criminal offences to prevent disruption have been rushed into law.
Police will be able to head off disruption by stopping and searching protesters if they suspect they are setting out to cause chaos. Graham Smith, the campaign group’s chief executive, described the letter as “very odd” and said the group was seeking assurances from the police that nothing had changed in relation to its plans to protest on coronation day.
Republic has been planning protests on Saturday under the banner “Not My King”, including one at the statue in Charing Cross of Charles I, who was beheaded in 1649, leading to a short-lived republic.The development has dismayed campaigners for freedom of speech who say it could be interpreted as a way of restricting peaceful and legitimate protests.
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